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Why is indoctrination often contrasted with critical thinking?

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Fragment of a Roman fresco showing Socrates seated and draped in a white robe, with Greek text above, on a red background with visible cracks. — Philosophy of education Socrates, Roman fresco, 1st century bce; in the Ephesus Museum, Selçuk, Turkey.

Indoctrination is often contrasted with critical thinking because they represent fundamentally different approaches to the formation of beliefs and the role of the learner.

While critical thinking is defined by the use of deliberative reasoning and the impartial scrutiny of evidence to form judgments, indoctrination is characterized by teaching methods that bypass this rational process. Specifically, indoctrination is often identified by three features:
* It aims to instill beliefs regardless of their evidential support.
* It employs methods that leave students unable or unwilling to independently question or evaluate those beliefs.
* It focuses on ensuring students embrace a specific set of doctrines or ideologies without regard for their objective status.

In this contrast, the critical thinker is viewed as an agent who bases their actions and judgments on the competent assessment of reasons and evidence. Conversely, the victim of indoctrination is seen as someone whose capacity for such independent, reasoned evaluation has been undermined. However, philosophers continue to debate whether these two concepts are truly distinct in principle or if the avoidance of indoctrination is even possible in educational practice.1